put on your serious face…

I don’t mean to seem ambitious. I don’t suppose you have noticed, but ambition is looked down upon a little bit by the cool kids. Anyone that seems a bit desperate is uncool and a laissez faire attitude is the best way to be, apparently. So obviously, I don’t want you to think we are desperate… oh no… except we ARE! We are desperate to get some real enjoyment out of our hobbies and we are devoting more and more time to making sure that we pursue our hobbies, talk about them, put a bit of money aside for them, and make them SUSTAINABLE. Even if we are knackered and couldn’t possibly imagine any effort more than plonking ourselves on the sofa, there are always chores to be done around our hobbies that drag us out of our stupor and onto our feet into the sheer joy of creating… making… DOING something.

It’s not a bad life. Cooking’s my thing and I get to do it every day. For Handsome, he has two big hobbies, gardening and brewing… and brewing is something he can talk about with his buddies, or read a million articles on, or apply his technical side to, whilst being the creative little bunny he is… So last night, we proceeded into the two phase brewing process. Some of you will remember that he started his second batch of beer a couple of weeks ago. Last night, we distilled the brew into the newly bought carboy and commenced Phase II.

The excitement that shines out of Handsome’s face when he is brewing beer reminds me of a little boy opening Christmas presents. Handsome’s job is building things and he’s an engineer. He deals with some seriously interesting and technical stuff in his day to day job and he has to give a lot of consideration to VERY serious business matters… (say that with a deep voice and a pouty frown and you will understand how very serious it all is…). So I think it is natural that when he comes home, he wants to play with his toys, like any other typical male. And it just so happens that Handsome’s toys are his plants and his beer babies…

put on your happy face…

Numero uno job as he walks in the door is always a kiss and hug hello (for me and the bloody dog gets one too). But numero duo is… a quick chat with his plants to ask how they are doing and honestly, I’m surprised they don’t get a kiss and a cuddle too. Then the earth dampness gets tested and if adjustments are needed, the plants get a drink poured for them before I do…

Next is the beer. You see, it is vitally important to go to the bottom of the wardrobe and check if the beer storage tank is making the correct gurgling burping noises. There must also be some commentary on the noises that are being made (which I imagine is not dissimilar to inspecting and discussing the contents of your baby’s nappy). And after that, it may be necessary to get some new beer related equipment, or to distill into bottles, or any number of excellent beer related activities and tasks that keep my man happy and contented. I love beer I do.

distill distill…

I do like getting him little treats and surprises that let him know how much I love him and how often I think of him. This week’s gift was possibly my best gift yet, and also the cheapest… WIN WIN!

That’s right folks, I bought Handsome the ultimate man’s gift, the ultimate sustainable brewer’s manna, the undefeatable heavyweight champion of brew gifts, I got the man TWO hop plant seedlings. What do you think these gifts from heaven cost? Hundreds of dollars right? Nah, they were five bucks each, and I got him one of each type of rhizome, so we could sample the difference, if they grow properly. For a man that loves plants and that loves beer, I reckon these plants were the best gift he could ever receive and his beatific face as he thought about growing those hops, drying those hops, brewing those hops was an absolute picture. It was so good, I actually did take a picture… but what it actually means is that we just put our serious faces on… We have talked the good talk about growing hops, but as of Friday we are actually going to BE growing hops. I have the pots, I have the trellis, I have the soil to grow it in. Those little suckers are going to be the start of the rest of our beer brewing lives. I love them already and they haven’t even arrived yet!